Gender and Representation in British ‘Golden Age’ Crime Fiction / by Megan Hoffman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoffman, Megan, Author.

Series:

Crime Files, 2947-8359

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Modern--20th century.

Literature, Modern.

Fiction.

European literature.

Literature, Modern--21st century.

Literature--History and criticism.

Literature.

Twentieth-Century Literature.

Fiction Literature.

European Literature.

Contemporary Literature.

Literary History.

Local Subjects:

Twentieth-Century Literature.

Fiction Literature.

European Literature.

Contemporary Literature.

Literary History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (X, 206 p.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2016.

Place of Publication:

London : Palgrave Macmillan UK : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Summary:

This book provides an original and compelling analysis of the ways in which British women’s golden age crime narratives negotiate the conflicting social and cultural forces that influenced depictions of gender in popular culture in the 1920s until the late 1940s. The book explores a wide variety of texts produced both by writers who have been the focus of a relatively large amount of critical attention, such as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham, but also those who have received comparatively little, such as Christianna Brand, Ngaio Marsh, Gladys Mitchell, Josephine Tey and Patricia Wentworth. Through its original readings, this book explores the ambivalent nature of modes of femininity depicted in golden age crime fiction, and shows that seemingly conservative resolutions are often attempts to provide a ‘modern-yet-safe’ solution to the conflicts raised in the texts.

Contents:

Introduction

1.Change and Anxiety

2.‘Everybody Needs an Outlet’

3.A Joint Venture?

4.Ladies of a Modern World

5. Sensational Bodies

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137536662

1137536667